After nearly 20 years with the acclaimed Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates, golf course architect Chris Wilczynski started his own design firm in 2010 to build a brand and business for himself. For nearly a decade, Wilczynski stayed busy enough as a frequent-flying solo designer to earn Delta Air Lines’ Diamond status.
Then, COVID hit. And the future of Wilczynski’s namesake C.W. Golf Architecture firm seemed to be in jeopardy.
“When COVID started, I said to my wife I may need to find something different to do because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” recalls Wilczynski, who has a degree in landscape architecture from Michigan State University. “It just felt like everything was going to fall apart. And it was the opposite.
“It was like (golf business) projected straight up and it’s been that way ever since. Who knows how much longer this is going to last but golf is in a good spot. … Golf is super healthy right now and the economy of golf is good.”
Indeed, since the onset of the pandemic, when golf soared as a safe leisurely outdoor pursuit, the game and its overall industry have arguably never been better. Of course, COVID-19 also triggered one of the biggest housing booms in decades, with Americans flocking to Florida golf communities for private wide-open spaces.
Even after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 11 times between 2022 and 2023, and cooled the red-hot U.S. residential real estate market. Nevertheless, Wilczynski’s business hasn’t skipped a beat, fueled in part by his niche as the go-to architect for residential golf course developments.
That’s evident in his growing trail of championship courses designed for homebuilder Taylor Morrison’s Esplanade-branded resort lifestyle communities and developers like the Kolter Group and the Forestar Group.
The Michigan-based architect was in Florida recently to visit two of his newest 18-hole Taylor Morrison courses under construction: Esplanade at Solaeris in Port St. Lucie and Esplanade at Rivergrass in Naples. Wilczynski says Rivergrass has seven holes left to build, with the rest “getting really close to being ready” for limited preview rounds later this fall for homebuyer prospects.
On Florida’s opposite coast, Taylor Morrison broke ground on Solaeris about three months ago, and Wilczynski expects the layout to finish by the first quarter of 2027. It will mark Wilczynski’s sixth Esplanade course in Florida for the national homebuilder, including layouts anchoring Taylor Morrison communities at Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota and a private gated golf development in Naples.
“Esplanade at Solaeris reflects our ongoing commitment to creating exceptional lifestyle communities designed around connection, wellness, and shared experiences,” said Jeremy Goulart, Taylor Morrison’s Treasure Coast Vice President of Operations. “We’re proud to collaborate with Chris and a highly accomplished team of industry experts to deliver a premier golf experience that will serve as the centerpiece of the community and a destination residents and guests will enjoy for years to come.”
WOHALI REOPENS AFTER BANKRUPTCY AUCTION SALE
Utah’s Wohali Golf Club, 4,950-acre private mountain golf resort community partially developed about 43 miles from Salt Lake City in Coalville, reopened in late June after foreign investment fund EB5AN submitted the winning bid at a federal bankruptcy sale conducted by CBRE’s Golf & Resort Group in May.
Wohali’s new owners are no strangers to the project as they were the bankrupt golf resort’s primary lender, representing 99 anonymous foreign creditors through a federal incentive program.
Since Wohali’s original developers couldn’t repay their roughly $79 million loan and no other bids emerged, EB5AN was granted court approval to use the debt to acquire the resort. Troon Privé, the private club division of Troon, was then brought in to oversee club operations, agronomy, retail and membership sales and marketing.
In a press release, EB5AN said it intends to finish developing Wohali’s residential side and fulfil the resort’s infrastructure commitments to Coalville, located just north of Park City.
“Our investors believed in this property from the beginning, and we are committed to seeing it reach its potential,” EB5AN partner Mike Schoenfeld said in the release. “The Eagle Course is a world-class asset, and we look forward to opening it this summer and working closely with Coalville and the local community.”
The development’s previous owner, Wohali Land Estates LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last August after a string of lawsuits by creditors and contractors, including claims by foreign investors alleging they were owed $85 million under a loan tied to the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
According to CBRE first vice president Brandon Schempp, Wohali was among “the larger fully entitled private resort communities currently available in the Mountain West with significant completed infrastructure and substantial remaining development potential. Among the 1,588‑acre master‑planned resort development’s highlights: an 18‑hole championship course completed in 2024; an emerging 15‑hole short course; 94 remaining estate lots across two subdivisions; 303 entitled resort village units, and eight townhome units under construction.
The community also includes approvals for 300 golf memberships (with about 280 still available) and 3,362 acres of permanently conserved backcountry, providing protected open space and recreational access across more than five square miles of Utah’s Wasatch Mountain Range.
More than $105 million in infrastructure and amenities have been completed to date, CBRE added, including roads, utilities, the championship course, a temporary clubhouse and multiple golf operations buildings. Entitlements allow for a future 40,000‑square‑foot flagship clubhouse, a 27,500‑square‑foot family club complex, a 12,000‑square‑foot lake house and spa, a racquet club and several adventure outposts totaling approximately 100,500 square feet of additional amenity space.
19TH HOLE CHATTER: CAPITAL ON THE MOVE
The $835 million sale of the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort officially closed last May and the new owner of this iconic oceanfront property is a joint venture between Sculptor Real Estate Income Strategy and Trinity Investments. The seller, insurance company MassMutual’s $481 billion asset management arm Barings LLC, owned the property for more than 40 years, including a pair of offsite 18-hole courses: Hammock Bay and the Rookery located just a few miles away in Naples. …
This was the second blockbuster golf-related resort transaction in just over two months, following Host Hotels & Resorts' $1.1 billion sale of both the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World and the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The buyer is an affiliate of merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners, tied to Michael Dell.
The Four Seasons Resort at Disney World, which reportedly sold for $750 million, features the Tom Fazio-designed, par-71 Tranquilo Golf Course that has hosted numerous professional tournaments. Originally built in 1992 and designed by Fazio as Disney’s Osprey Ridge, Fazio Design renovated and renamed it Tranquilo in 2014. …
Desert Highlands, a member-owned residential golf club in Scottsdale, Arizona, is the latest private club community to join the Blue Zones movement. The Blue Zones Project is inspired by regions around the world where people live the longest and healthiest lives, places like Loma Linda, California and Okinawa, Japan two of the original five global Blue Zones boasting high concentrations of centenarians.
So what does Blue Zone certification require? For Desert Highlands, it mostly means continuing existing practices: emphasizing healthy lifestyles, community, and the “Blue Zones diet,” which centers on Mediterranean-style eating. …
Billionaire businessman David Hoffmann of Naples, Florida, whose Hoffmann Family of Companies owns the prestigious Old Collier Golf Club in Naples, recently partnered with architect Kyle Phillips to design and build the Pandion Club — another members-only course in nearby Estero on the former Old Corkscrew Golf Club site Hoffmann acquired in 2022.
Pandion Club is in early development, targeting a late 2027 opening. According to Hoffmann’s private equity firm, the family plans to operate it as an exclusive, 280-member, golf-only club featuring a Lowcountry-style clubhouse, a large practice range, teaching and short-game areas, and putting greens.